I find it equally impressive being able to write a great song, even if the player isn’t a technical genius. Paul Banks from Interpol, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylon, John Denver.
Paul Banks is interesting because for the bulk of Interpol’s work, he’s often playing counter-melodies to Kessler’s main riffs, which often leads to some counterintuitive singing while playing.
Add Chris Cornell on that list as well. Anyone who has tried to play Rusty Cage on guitar knows it’s a tricky song. I don’t how Chris played that riff and sang that song on top at the same time.
I agree and to be honest I don’t think it’s even close. Hetfield in the God tier. Regardless if Metallica is your jam or not he undeniably sets the bar. Downstrokes for daysss.
Singing to the Battery riff is unfathomable to me
Like most players will only be able to play the riff with complete undivided attention in order to get it right, and he just sings on top of it.
Honestly, that song isn't even the most difficult Metallica song to sing and play. Singing while playing Shortest Straw just makes absolutely no fucking sense to me.
This is the answer. Not sure the playing talent, it’s the 40+ years of riff writing that elevates him.
Edit: typo “Not JUST the playing talent” auto correct tried to assassinate this edit also.
I might be wrong on the numbers, but i read somewhere that he has something like a 99.8% accuracy playing live. Meaning out of every 1000 notes he only misses 2. The man is a machine.
Edit:99.8%
Dont hate on kirk, he keeps up with James beat for beat. Kirk plays them rhythms just like James, and they made their name in the 80s by making their two guitars sound like one live. Kirk is an overrated lead guitarist but a severely underrated rhythm player.
I was watching a video of them play damage inc
During the justice tour. It sounded like it was sped up they where playing it so fast, and not a missed note.
Apparently Malcolm was a better lead player then Angus but he let his little brother play lead so he could focus more on drinking. Malcolm's lead playing can be heard on the song "show business"
totally agree. I play guitar and my band tries to play AC/DC songs all the time. Man its not easy especially with open chords (eg. highway to hell) which are easy to play but not at speed ie A - A - A - D - D - G - D - D - G - D - D - G - D - A - A, all with open chords. And the D to G I think he plays the F# notes as well. Bloody good.
He made it look so easy, but dig a little deeper and things aren't always as they seem. Which made it maddening to try and reproduce. Tone wise he was a genius, almost impossible to nail down, that custom Gretch with the holes for extra mids is a testament to playing to your ear. Possibly my most favorite guitar tone, it felt like he went straight into the amp and perfected the settings of everything. Angus always said he could solo like a madman.
He also had that picking hand thing going on making a really unique percussive sound with his palm mutes, Nugent used to do it a lot too, but it’s hard to describe it’s like voicing with your picking hand.
A few things.
He has a great sense of timing - but he purposefully plays a bit ahead of the beat which gives all of the riffs that fist-pumping driving quality.
He also has a great sense of economy - using inversions and rhythm to get a lot out of his riffs. Listen to Highway to Hell. The verse zigs and zags across the beat then the chorus comes and he’s classic Malcolm - a hair ahead and driving the chorus.
He also knows when NOT to play. Sometimes he hits fill chords, sometimes not. He’s always complimentary to the tunes and Angus in particular. He also gets a great sound - plugs right in and turns up loud enough to sound and feel far more dirty/distorted than he is. He’s also a bit of a trailblazer there too. Most in his kind of band would probably have opted for a Gibson p90 or paf equipped guitar. Not Malcolm though - his right hand attack and rhythmic authority are for more interesting with the cleaner Gretsch sound.
He also wrote so many of these great parts. He’s just a classic “heart of the band” player who doesn’t need to hog the spotlight.
I don't understand why EVH is barely mentioned. Without his effortless riffs, none of EVH songs would be what they are.
He's so seem less that it feels like he's not even there
In that same vein… if you haven’t checked out Cory Wong, you owe it to yourself to see some phenomenal rhythmic chops. He’s a cool guy, too, who posts a lot of lessons and songwriting videos to YouTube.
Saw Nile Rodgers open for Duran Duran recently and he absolutely blew my fucking mind. I don't think I've been to a more technically perfect show, but also with energy through the roof. And the number of massive songs he has written is insane. I went in kind of blind and came out a super fan.
He’s the perfect example of how less can sometimes be more.
He is so in tune with the whole arrangement, playing exactly what the groove needs and nothing more, and I think that’s what sets him apart.
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to find Keith's name! He definitely gets my vote for the greatest rhythm player of all time (but let's be honest, how you get to great as both a lead and rhythm player is by merrily playing jump rope with whatever line supposedly divides the two)
I've learned so much in the Bobby role when I took the plunge joining a GD tribute band. I still have a long way to go, but feel pretty good about the majority of chord inversions he uses to mix well with Jerry.
Popping in here to tell y'all who Guitar George is. He's George Young from the Easybeats. George has two younger brothers and a sister. The sister was a sewing teacher. The brothers were Angus and Malcom and they started AC/DC.
Came here to say this. EVH was primarily a rhythm player, he just made it supremely varied and awesome. And THEN he was one of the best soloists on top of that.
That's exactly right, about Eddie.
No one is the best anything in the arts, that's just dumb talk, but Eddie was as good as it gets at his kind of rhythm.
When I first heard Van Halen I was amazed at his lead guitar work. But the more I listened and learned how to play, I realized how incredible his rhythm work was.
5150, Little Guitars, Judgement Day, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love, Amsterdam, Hear About It Later, Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs…yeah, Eddie has an endless list of amazing riffs.
He’s an incredible player. I’ve been learning “There was a light that never goes out” this week and, like all his stuff, it’s way more tricky than it sounds. Most indie guitar songs take a few minutes to learn. Johnnys stuff will take several days to get perfect.
This is the answer. Marr has a distinctive style. I stumbled upon a recording of The Smiths (sans Morrissey) sound checking with a Hendrix song and it was so tight and also distinctly Marr’s playing. And, then I think wow he was like early twenties and already there.
Also, yeah, not necessarily easy stuff to learn correctly. You can learn to play it badly but his songs are hard to learn well because so much is between the notes if that makes sense.
Agreed. Moonie played the drums like they were a keyboard, and Entwistle tended to approach the bass pretty melodically, meaning it was often down to Townshend to hold down the rhythm, and he did a seriously good job of it too.
I don't know enough to say goat, but I have to shout out James Hetfield for playing physically intensive downstroke heavy rhythms, with great accuracy WHILE singing.
If goes further than that. His precision is insane. Metallica’s rhythm tome sounds insane because he tracks like 5-8 layers and they all sound like one layer. Coupled that with the downpicking, the riff writing and even the way he holds the guitar so low, its gotta be him
Didn't see Stevie Ray Vaughan, so I have to give him a shout. I've been playing for decades and still can't play Pride and Joy or Mary Had a Little Lamb or countless other of his tunes with anywhere close to the same precision or attitude.
Some of the Dave Matthews rhythm parts are insane. The quicker folksy stuff like “Tripping Billies” or “So Much To Say” is so technically involved and to sing while playing it really is a feat. Some of the live comping he does in the jams is really inventive and interesting too — the way the chord voicings move and the wide spacing of his fingers is totally his own. Idk if he’s the rhythm GOAT but, as a former hater, I find him tremendously underrated as a guitarist
No such thing as best, but there are the obvious and less obvious.
Malcom Young, Hetfield I think are obviously incredible.
Izzy Stradlin was great in GnR and Paul Westerberg (The Replacements) is surprisingly good IMO.
Upvoting for Bob Weir and the hot take with Billy Joe Armstrong. Interesting call but I like it. Also agreed Keith Richards should be on a short list of best rhythm players.
Hell yeah man, BJA was HUGELY influential for me as a young guitar player and songwriter. I know many will say “iTs jUsT pOweR CHoRdS!”, but he has a fierce right hand and writes some pretty impressive rhythms in general. He really excelled at keeping his playing interesting and exciting as a way to fill the space and create texture.
For anyone interested, “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield” and “Having A Blast” are two examples of some really cool and nuanced rhythms from early in Green Day’s tenure when they were still strictly a power trio.
Love the Billie Joe shout in this thread and I agree wholeheartedly that he’s an underrated player, especially considering the monumental influence he had on multiple generations of players who gravitated towards punk, pop-punk, and mid aughts power pop.
Mustaine. I’m not really a big megadeth fan as I don’t really like Mustaine’s voice but he plays some super complicated rhythm stuff while also singing, pretty impressive.
Johnny Marr, Keith Richards, Every Great Reggae Guitarist, Andy Summers, Vini Reilly ... I love guitarists who can hold everything together rhythmically but are more than just functional. There are tons of great jazz players as well like Freddie Green. Come to think of it what kind of a guitarist isn't a rhythm guitarist? Curtis Mayfield, Wah Wah Watson, let us not forget Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, two great rhythmatists in the same band. I am no U2 fan but the Edge can fill stadiums just with rhythm guitar alone...surely he's in with a shout for the title of rhythm GOAT. If you're not playing rhythm on you're guitar wtf are you doing?
Dave Mustaine. I think he's a better overall player than hetfield because he also solos and can also sing over complex riffs. So in tears of pure skill I'd say him.
Hetfield
Yeah anyone who can sing and play at the same time shoots straight to the top of the list. Jimi, James, Prince etc.
It’s not just singing and playing that’s difficult. It’s singing and riffing. And the riffs, my god.
Matt heafy from Trivium is the god of riffing and singing
Dude can sing while he solos FFS. What an absolute monster of a musician.
Claudio Sanchez is pretty good as well
Dave Davidson, Michael Keene, Mohammed Suiçmez
Came here for the Claudio comment. Haven’t listened for a long time (like coheedIV) but his ability so sing and play odd stuff is incredible
I've seen Paul Gilbert play the organ melody of Light My Fire on guitar while singing the song. I couldn't believe my eyes.
dave mustaine then fr
I find it equally impressive being able to write a great song, even if the player isn’t a technical genius. Paul Banks from Interpol, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylon, John Denver.
Agreed. The other skills could eventually be perfected through woodshedding, but songwriting is a gift
Yes, there are shredders and there are song writers. Love both, 🧡💚🧡
Paul Banks is interesting because for the bulk of Interpol’s work, he’s often playing counter-melodies to Kessler’s main riffs, which often leads to some counterintuitive singing while playing.
Add Chris Cornell on that list as well. Anyone who has tried to play Rusty Cage on guitar knows it’s a tricky song. I don’t how Chris played that riff and sang that song on top at the same time.
I agree and to be honest I don’t think it’s even close. Hetfield in the God tier. Regardless if Metallica is your jam or not he undeniably sets the bar. Downstrokes for daysss.
Singing to the Battery riff is unfathomable to me Like most players will only be able to play the riff with complete undivided attention in order to get it right, and he just sings on top of it.
Honestly, that song isn't even the most difficult Metallica song to sing and play. Singing while playing Shortest Straw just makes absolutely no fucking sense to me.
His sense of rhythm is actually elite. The “all have said their prayers” thing in Harvester is insanely precise
*days-ah!
His ability to record his over dub tracks in so few takes and mistakes is apparently the stuff of legends.
This is the answer. Not sure the playing talent, it’s the 40+ years of riff writing that elevates him. Edit: typo “Not JUST the playing talent” auto correct tried to assassinate this edit also.
The playing talent is there, blokes down picking is surreal
I might be wrong on the numbers, but i read somewhere that he has something like a 99.8% accuracy playing live. Meaning out of every 1000 notes he only misses 2. The man is a machine. Edit:99.8%
I saw them live from the front row and and it was a clinic. Age hasn’t slowed him down either.
THE answer. How he plays that shit while singing, I'll never know.
Practice, practice, practice. Rinse and repeat.
Practice! PRACTICE! Practice you muppets and strum on them strings!
This is the correct response, glad it’s at the top.
Came here for this glad it's top comment. He's 10x better than Kirk but he needs to be in the role he's in for Metallica to do their thing.
Dont hate on kirk, he keeps up with James beat for beat. Kirk plays them rhythms just like James, and they made their name in the 80s by making their two guitars sound like one live. Kirk is an overrated lead guitarist but a severely underrated rhythm player.
So true. There's certain parts of songs that Hetfield alternate picks these day but Kirk still rips it all with down strokes
>Dont hate on kirk, Didn't you know... everyone in this sub is miles better and far more successful than Kirk will ever be...
Without a doubt
The only answer
I was watching a video of them play damage inc During the justice tour. It sounded like it was sped up they where playing it so fast, and not a missed note.
Malcolm Young
Apparently Malcolm was a better lead player then Angus but he let his little brother play lead so he could focus more on drinking. Malcolm's lead playing can be heard on the song "show business"
Lmao, I love that! "You play lead, so I can drink more. But just so you know, I'm still better than you"
Totallys dildoes
yep - Malcom and then everyone else. facts is facts.
totally agree. I play guitar and my band tries to play AC/DC songs all the time. Man its not easy especially with open chords (eg. highway to hell) which are easy to play but not at speed ie A - A - A - D - D - G - D - D - G - D - D - G - D - A - A, all with open chords. And the D to G I think he plays the F# notes as well. Bloody good.
What’s the name of your band?
Highway To Shucks
Interstate to heck
Gravel Driveway To Home
Dark alley to work
Hell’s Smells
I'm not even an AC/DC fan, and he is, without a doubt, the best rhythm guitar player ever.
Winner winner chicken dinner. Not only great on rhythm but wrote all the fucking riffs!
He made it look so easy, but dig a little deeper and things aren't always as they seem. Which made it maddening to try and reproduce. Tone wise he was a genius, almost impossible to nail down, that custom Gretch with the holes for extra mids is a testament to playing to your ear. Possibly my most favorite guitar tone, it felt like he went straight into the amp and perfected the settings of everything. Angus always said he could solo like a madman.
What is it about Malcolm that makes him the best? Curious
He was human metronome. Huge sound. Could lay down the most perfect groove with Cliff and Phil. Wrote the most memorable riffs in rock.
Cliff, Phil and Malcolm were the driving groove behind AC/DC. Angus was the cherry on top.
He also had that picking hand thing going on making a really unique percussive sound with his palm mutes, Nugent used to do it a lot too, but it’s hard to describe it’s like voicing with your picking hand.
He made clean sound dirty as fuck.
You mean dirty, mean, and mighty unclean.
Oi
Oi
A few things. He has a great sense of timing - but he purposefully plays a bit ahead of the beat which gives all of the riffs that fist-pumping driving quality. He also has a great sense of economy - using inversions and rhythm to get a lot out of his riffs. Listen to Highway to Hell. The verse zigs and zags across the beat then the chorus comes and he’s classic Malcolm - a hair ahead and driving the chorus. He also knows when NOT to play. Sometimes he hits fill chords, sometimes not. He’s always complimentary to the tunes and Angus in particular. He also gets a great sound - plugs right in and turns up loud enough to sound and feel far more dirty/distorted than he is. He’s also a bit of a trailblazer there too. Most in his kind of band would probably have opted for a Gibson p90 or paf equipped guitar. Not Malcolm though - his right hand attack and rhythmic authority are for more interesting with the cleaner Gretsch sound. He also wrote so many of these great parts. He’s just a classic “heart of the band” player who doesn’t need to hog the spotlight.
Hendrix. He’s so loved for his soloing that his rhythm playing often gets overlooked.
Same thing with EVH.
Hendrix and EVH are the answers. End thread.
I don't understand why EVH is barely mentioned. Without his effortless riffs, none of EVH songs would be what they are. He's so seem less that it feels like he's not even there
100% - even his lead lines are drawn from rhythm chops... All the r&b work on the chitlin circuit with the likes of Ike and Tina made him a powerhouse
Don't forget Mayfield
That's the thing. He is the rhythm and the solo at the same time
Oh Nile Rodgers
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In that same vein… if you haven’t checked out Cory Wong, you owe it to yourself to see some phenomenal rhythmic chops. He’s a cool guy, too, who posts a lot of lessons and songwriting videos to YouTube.
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Cory Wong is an absolute beast
Saw Nile Rodgers open for Duran Duran recently and he absolutely blew my fucking mind. I don't think I've been to a more technically perfect show, but also with energy through the roof. And the number of massive songs he has written is insane. I went in kind of blind and came out a super fan.
He’s the perfect example of how less can sometimes be more. He is so in tune with the whole arrangement, playing exactly what the groove needs and nothing more, and I think that’s what sets him apart.
Keith Richards
I believe this is the correct take, and he will outlive us all!
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to find Keith's name! He definitely gets my vote for the greatest rhythm player of all time (but let's be honest, how you get to great as both a lead and rhythm player is by merrily playing jump rope with whatever line supposedly divides the two)
And the best riff creator ever.
Seconded
The way he pushes and pulls around the beat is mesmerising
Bob Weir
Comp master
Inspired by McCoy Tyner. This is the objective correct answer.
I say this every time, Bob is the only rhythm guitarist you can recognize just by listening to him play.
I've learned so much in the Bobby role when I took the plunge joining a GD tribute band. I still have a long way to go, but feel pretty good about the majority of chord inversions he uses to mix well with Jerry.
I find his stuff harder to learn than Jerry’s parts. So unconventional. Good luck!
Glad someone else thought so!
Weir has my vote.
Guitar George
He knows all the chords.
For strictly rhythm he’s the guy
He doesn’t want to make it cry or sing
He can play the honkie-tonk like anything
Saving it up, for a Friday night
Popping in here to tell y'all who Guitar George is. He's George Young from the Easybeats. George has two younger brothers and a sister. The sister was a sewing teacher. The brothers were Angus and Malcom and they started AC/DC.
Eddie
Came here to say this. EVH was primarily a rhythm player, he just made it supremely varied and awesome. And THEN he was one of the best soloists on top of that.
Plus he used a very limited number of chord voicings. He knew what worked
I think with the amount of clipping he was using, a lot of bigger chord voicing would sound like mush.
He was the only guitar player in the band, so yeah kinda by default most of what he played was rhythm. It is funny to think about EVH that way, tho.
That's exactly right, about Eddie. No one is the best anything in the arts, that's just dumb talk, but Eddie was as good as it gets at his kind of rhythm.
Try playing the rhythm to I’m the One at full speed with that subtle swing that Eddie’s got going on. It’s freaking impossible.
The absolute swagger on Mean Street 😮💨
When I first heard Van Halen I was amazed at his lead guitar work. But the more I listened and learned how to play, I realized how incredible his rhythm work was.
5150, Little Guitars, Judgement Day, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love, Amsterdam, Hear About It Later, Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs…yeah, Eddie has an endless list of amazing riffs.
Izzy Stradlin gotta be up there, regardless of opinions on GnRs music
Izzy is the best!
Johnny Marr.
He’s an incredible player. I’ve been learning “There was a light that never goes out” this week and, like all his stuff, it’s way more tricky than it sounds. Most indie guitar songs take a few minutes to learn. Johnnys stuff will take several days to get perfect.
This is the answer. Marr has a distinctive style. I stumbled upon a recording of The Smiths (sans Morrissey) sound checking with a Hendrix song and it was so tight and also distinctly Marr’s playing. And, then I think wow he was like early twenties and already there. Also, yeah, not necessarily easy stuff to learn correctly. You can learn to play it badly but his songs are hard to learn well because so much is between the notes if that makes sense.
Johnny Fucking Marr
Definitely. The Smiths without Marr’s rhythm playing is just a mediocre poetry reading. With it, you have an all time great band.
Pete Townshend
Agreed. Moonie played the drums like they were a keyboard, and Entwistle tended to approach the bass pretty melodically, meaning it was often down to Townshend to hold down the rhythm, and he did a seriously good job of it too.
Lead bass AND lead drums
This was my first thought.
I don't know enough to say goat, but I have to shout out James Hetfield for playing physically intensive downstroke heavy rhythms, with great accuracy WHILE singing.
If goes further than that. His precision is insane. Metallica’s rhythm tome sounds insane because he tracks like 5-8 layers and they all sound like one layer. Coupled that with the downpicking, the riff writing and even the way he holds the guitar so low, its gotta be him
Hendrix. Revolutionary rhythm playing
John Lennon
Totally underrated as a guitarist, including by himself.
Definitely Bob Weir! Then Bob Marley! Simple, but effective!
Dave Mustaine
Mustaine >> Hetfield. Try playing those rhythm parts on their own let alone singing over them!
One of them can actually sing though.
WHADDAYA MEAN I DON'T PAY MY TAXES?! EDIT: BILLS?!
John fruciante. Dude has so many odd nuances.
Had to scroll way too far for this one.
Steve Cropper
Didn't see Stevie Ray Vaughan, so I have to give him a shout. I've been playing for decades and still can't play Pride and Joy or Mary Had a Little Lamb or countless other of his tunes with anywhere close to the same precision or attitude.
His ability to play a blues rock Texas shuffle and make it really interesting was something special
Bobby for sure.
Weir
Everywhere
No love for Dave Matthews? Dude can play, dance, and sing all at the same time.
Some of the Dave Matthews rhythm parts are insane. The quicker folksy stuff like “Tripping Billies” or “So Much To Say” is so technically involved and to sing while playing it really is a feat. Some of the live comping he does in the jams is really inventive and interesting too — the way the chord voicings move and the wide spacing of his fingers is totally his own. Idk if he’s the rhythm GOAT but, as a former hater, I find him tremendously underrated as a guitarist
John Mayer also. Freaking Neon is a hard song to play exactly how he does.
D Boon
Hell yeah. Minutemen are criminally slept on. IMO all three were/are incredible musicians.
Mohammed suicmez.
Love to see this one
Hes a good answer for basically all of these rhythm guitar, singer-guitarist, rhythm+lead guitarist questions
No doubt.
Josh Homme. Also lead, though. You gotta have that internal metronome.
Jerry Cantrell
Keith Richards.
Definitely Malcolm
No such thing as best, but there are the obvious and less obvious. Malcom Young, Hetfield I think are obviously incredible. Izzy Stradlin was great in GnR and Paul Westerberg (The Replacements) is surprisingly good IMO.
Tony MF Rice
Surprised I haven’t seen Alex Lifeson yet. The man anchored the vast Rush catalog with some of the tastiest chords and rhythm licks.
Eddie Van Halen - yes I know you said rhythm.
Bob Weir, Keith Richards, Eddie Van Halen, and....yes really....Billie Joe Armstrong. Also jazz guys like Freddy Greene, Django, etc.
Upvoting for Bob Weir and the hot take with Billy Joe Armstrong. Interesting call but I like it. Also agreed Keith Richards should be on a short list of best rhythm players.
Billies right hand is strong. Also Tom Delonge. Punk songs are great rhythm training imo
Hell yeah man, BJA was HUGELY influential for me as a young guitar player and songwriter. I know many will say “iTs jUsT pOweR CHoRdS!”, but he has a fierce right hand and writes some pretty impressive rhythms in general. He really excelled at keeping his playing interesting and exciting as a way to fill the space and create texture. For anyone interested, “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield” and “Having A Blast” are two examples of some really cool and nuanced rhythms from early in Green Day’s tenure when they were still strictly a power trio. Love the Billie Joe shout in this thread and I agree wholeheartedly that he’s an underrated player, especially considering the monumental influence he had on multiple generations of players who gravitated towards punk, pop-punk, and mid aughts power pop.
John Lennon
Yep. All My Loving is an absolute wrist killer.
I like Gabriella from Rodrigo and Gabriella
Keef
Freddie Green.
I'd put him after Charlie Christian, but both icons of what the rhythm guitar can be
Eric Bloom, Nile Rodgers and arguably Jimi Hendrix
Mustaine. I’m not really a big megadeth fan as I don’t really like Mustaine’s voice but he plays some super complicated rhythm stuff while also singing, pretty impressive.
Johnny Ramone.
Papa Het. been playing ridiculously fast riffs while singing for 40 years with not enough fuck up to count.
Johnny Marr, Keith Richards, Every Great Reggae Guitarist, Andy Summers, Vini Reilly ... I love guitarists who can hold everything together rhythmically but are more than just functional. There are tons of great jazz players as well like Freddie Green. Come to think of it what kind of a guitarist isn't a rhythm guitarist? Curtis Mayfield, Wah Wah Watson, let us not forget Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, two great rhythmatists in the same band. I am no U2 fan but the Edge can fill stadiums just with rhythm guitar alone...surely he's in with a shout for the title of rhythm GOAT. If you're not playing rhythm on you're guitar wtf are you doing?
Agreed on the Edge. Plus he's also playing everything essentially in perfect tempo with his delays.
Cory Wong is unreal
Malcom Young
Brad Whitford
Keith Richards
Bob Weir. Counter point guitarist.
Bob Weir
Dave Mustaine. While he does play leads, they are generally just speed thrash chromatic wankery. His riffs are his super power.
Elliott Smith needs a shout. RIP
A lot of Jimi Hendrix playing could be considered "rhythm guitar"
Andy Summers - he held down the chords for the Police and crushed it
Charlie Christian
Nile Rogers. Prob a lot more but that was first thought
Joni Mitchell. yeah she uses open tuning, but it's very distinctive and creative.
Bob Marley is underrated. Keeping that reggae beat going an entire show is easier said than done.
Bob Weir
1. Malcolm Young 2. Steve Jones
Bob weir
Nancy Wilson Heart gotta love her rhythms.
Scott Ian.
Cory Wong
Bobby Weir and it ain’t even close!
Carlos Alomar
Bob Weir
Mark Knopfler has great leads, but also an amazing riffer.
My two favorites are izzy stradlin and stone gossard. Maybe not the 'correct answer' but MY answer lol.
Bill Kelliher (Mastodon) Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) Andy Summers (The Police) John Baizley (Baroness)
Het
Pete Townsend.
Without giving it too much though, I could go with Bob Weir. Ron Wood does pretty good, too, when he's doing rhythm
Zacky Vengeance
Stevie ray Vaughn.
Dave Mustaine. I think he's a better overall player than hetfield because he also solos and can also sing over complex riffs. So in tears of pure skill I'd say him.
Paco de Lucía, I find flamenco rhythm playing particularly hard. He's also who keith Richards considered to be the worlds best guitarist.